Gas-ignition apparatus.



H. LYON.

GAS IGNITION APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 20, 1910.

1,1 18,943, Patented Dec. 1,1914.

W X W Y W 2 $5M UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

:owm LYON, or enonensrna CITY, new JERSEY, assrenon 'ro wnnsnncn 1.10m. comramr, a CORPORATION or NEW annsnv.

GAS-IGNITION APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters ratent.

Patented Dec. 1, 1914.

Application filed December 20, 1910. Serial No. seams.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Hownnn Lyon, a

.;citizen; of the .United States, residing at g Gloucester City," in the county of Camden and-State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and'useful Improvements in Gas Ignition Apparatus, of which the following combustible vapor such as the vapor of alco- K-hol, gasolene, etc., all of which are hereinafter referred to simply as gas.

EA current of gas mixed with air and surrounded with air such as exists in the vicinity of the outlet of an unlighted gas burner is not a uniform mixture,at one point it may be rich, at another point weak or lean. If the ignition wire or filament is situated at a point Where the mixture is too lean or where the gas issubstantially unmixed w th air, the gas will not ignite, and if at a point where the mixture is very rich the gas will ignite and will .at the same time develop such a high temperature that the w re wil burn up within a short time, that 18 after a comparatively .few, ignitions. Furthermore, if-by experimenting with gas of a given richness a person determines a position where he may place the wire so that it will be ina mixture that is neither too rich nor too lean, he will find that upon varying the pressure (either increasing or diminishing it) the wire will no longer be situated in a favorable position but will be where the gas is either too rich or too lean. And moreover, if instead of varying the pressure he maintains itconstant but varies the quality of the gas (making it either richer or leaner) he will find that the position of the wire is no longer favorable and that it will either fail to ignite or will soon burn up.

The necessary conditions governing the location of the ignition wire or filament so that the apparatus will operate with certainty and for a very extended period with gas of varying quality and under pressures varying to as great an extent as are encountered in practical illumination are as follows: I. have discovered that the first requisite is the production of a jet or current of gas characterized by definite zones of richness, that is, an inner zone where the richness of the gas would cause the ignition wire to burn up, an outer zone where the mixture is too weak to ignite, and an intermediate zone where the conditions are entirely favorable. The latter zone may be appropriately termed a critical zone. These several zones are present in an ordinary as jet such as that issuing from the head 0 a Bunsen burner, but as the critical zone is very narrow, if such a zone be located with a gas of medium richness under medium pressure and the wire be positioned accordingly, it will be found that a slight increase of pressure or of richness or both will cause the wire to be consumed within a short time, while a decrease of pressure or of richness will cause a failure to ignite. The second requisite is therefore the provision of means for minimizing the variations in the cross-sectional areas of the zones under varying conditions of pressure and richness and at the same time increasing the area of the critical zone, at least in the vicinity of the ignition wire. I have found that these results can be obtained by surrounding the jet or current of gas or inflammable mixture by a tube, 2'. e., by creating zones of moving gas in an ignition tube within which'the wire is situated and by causing air currents to be established in the vicinity'of the wire by forming openings in the Walls of the tube in such position as to cause the air to bathe the wire. Finally I have discovered that under the conditions just referred to it is possible to obtain a critical zone of such size and uniformity that it is not necessary to use an electric current of suflic-ient strength to heat the ignition wire to the kindling temperature of the gas to be ignited, since by using a very fine wire of platinum or platinum alloy the rapidly flowing gas has a strong catalytic action upon the wire and upon slightly heating the latter by the electric current this catalytic action sets in with great rapidity, and in an exceedin ly short interval heats the Wire to such a egree of incandescence that the kindling temperature of the gas is reached, whereupon the gas mixture is ignited. This catalytic action is always present in gas of a certain richness when mixed with air, and when the gas mixture is too rich it subjects the wire to an exccedingly high temperature which causes it to be quickly consumed as I have heretofore described.

Reference is hereb made to the accompanying drawings 0 which Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of an incandescent gas burner of the upright type and provided with means for igniting the same accordin to my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan and ig. 3 a bottom plan of the same, Fig. 3 showing the position of the cock after ignition has been accomplished, while Fig. 1 shows its position for causing ignition. Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 0 Fig. 1.

The burner 1 is an upright incandescent burner of Well known form and is threaded upon the nipple ofa brass three-way cock 2 which is in turn threaded on the gas pipe a. A vertical metallic tube 3 is mounted in the lateral extension 4 of the cock and carries at its upper end a metal cylinder 5 closed at the bottom. A gas pipe 7 of metal is mounted within the tube 3 and is insulated therefrom by bushings 8 and 9. The

lower end of the pipe 7 which forms the pilot burner, is closed by the metal plug 10 and its bore communicates with the bore of the tube 3 as shown at 25. Formed in the wall of the cylinder 5 and on a level with the outlet of the gas pipe 7 are a pair of oppositely disposed circular openings 11, so situated that the air enters therethrough in a direction transverse to the filament 12. A very fine wire or filament 12 of platinum or platinum alloy (for instance platinum and iridium or platinum and rhodium) is connected at its ends to the supporting conducting wires 13 and 14, the former of which is soldered to the pipe 7 and the latter to the plate 15 which forms the bottom of the cylinder. The wire 12 is curved as shown, and when, viewed from above is in the form of an arc concentric with the pipe-7, or substantially so. On account of the conduction and radiation of heat by the su porting or 'leadin in wires 13 and 14, the hottest portion 0 the ignition wire 12 is at and near its center. This portion may be termed the active catalytic portion of the wire and is situated within the cricical zone which is formed by reason of the arrangement or relative positions of the outlet of the pipe 7,

the tube 5, and the air inlets 11. No portion of the filament'is within a zone of greater richness than the critical zone, so that .no portion will be subjected to a temperature sufiicient to injure the filament. It will be understood that in practice there may be more or less variation in the dimensions of the elements by which the critical zone is created. I have, however, "secured very desirable results with an apparatus in which the dimensions are as follows: external diameter of pipe 7, .062", internal diameter of same, .035, internal diameter of cylinder 5, .332", diameter of openings 11, .096", distance of filament from axis of pi e 7, .094, distance of filament from wall 0 cylinder 5, .07 distance of plane of filament measured axially from end of pipe 7, .047

Mounted upon the cock 2 are an insulating bushing 16 and metal ring 17, the latter being provided with a binding screw 22 for securing a wire leading to one pole of an electric battery, the other pole of which is connected to the gas pipe (1 or grounded. One dry cell is sufiicient for the purpose. A pin 18 covered by a sleeve 19 of fiber or other insulation extends outwardly from the key 20 of the cock 2. There is a sprin strip 21 secured at one end to the ring 17 by'screws 22 and 23, the other end being bent outwardly in position to be moved by the insulating sleeve 19. An auxiliary spring strip 24 is riveted to the strip 21 and extends outwardly therefrom into proximity to the plug 10.

The device is operated as follows: The key 20 of the cock 2 is turned by means of its handle 20" beyond the position of Fig. 3 into the position shown in Fig. 1, whereby gas is admitted to the main burner 1 and also to the auxiliary or pilot burner 7, and at the same time the springs 21 and 24 are moved into the position indicated by dotted lines Fig. 3 and an electric circuit is completed from one pole of the battery through the ring 17, spring 21, spring 24, plug 10, tube 7, wire 13, wire 12, wire 14, plate 15 and tube 3 to the ground and the other pole of the battery. The jet of gas issues with considerable velocity from the outlet of the pipe 7 and draws air into the cylinder through the openings 11,.the wire 12 being bathed by said air currents. By reason of the arrangement or relative positions of the outlet of the pipe 7, the tube 5 and the air inlets 11, a critical zone is formed in the immediate vicinity of thewire 12 which is of large size and on account of its size it is substantially independent of such variations in pressure and quality of gas as occur in practical illumination because while its size may vary somewhat as the pressure or quality of the gas varies, it will not vary enough to cause the wire either to fail to ignite or to burn up, in other words, the wire will be always favorably situated as regards ignition because it will always be in a zone of the character described on account of the relative arrangement of the elements specileased and the spring 21 thereupon turns the same backward sufficiently to open the electric circuit and close the by-pass which supplies the pilot burner as shown in Fig. 3. While I prefer to use an electric current of a strength insuflicient to render the wire 12 incandescent, a stronger current may be used, but it should be of a strength insufficient of itself to heat the wire to the kindling temperature of the gas to be ignited.

Having now described my invent1on,what 1 claim is:

1. In a gas burner, the combination of a pilot having an outlet, means for creating in its vicinity a critical zone of a size suificient to compensate for variations in pressure and quality of the gas supply, and catalytic igniting means situated entirely in said zone for igniting the gas.

2. In a gas burner, the combination of a pilot having an outlet, means for creating in its vicinity a critical zone of a size suificient to compensate for variations in pressure and quality of the gas supply, a catalytic conductive filament having an active portion situated in said zone and no portion in a zone of greater richness, and means for passing an electric current therethrough.

' 3. In a gas burner, the combination of a pilot having an outlet, a tube surrounding the same and provided with one or more air holes, a catalytic filament having a portion above and at one side of said outlet and adjacent an air hole, and conducting means for applying an electric current to'said filament.

4:. In a gas burner, the combination of a pilot having an outlet, a tube surrounding the same and provided with one or more air holes at substantially the same height as said outlet, a catalytic filament in said tube, said filament having a portion at about the same level as said air holes and at one side of said outlet, and means for applying an electric current to said filament.

5. In a gas burner, the combination of a plot having an outlet, a tube surrounding the same and provided with one or more air holes, a catalytic filament having a portion above and at one side of said outlet and adjacent an air hole, said air hole being so situated that air enters therethrough in a direction transverse to the filament and creates a critical zone around said portion of the filament.

6. In a gas burner, the combination of a pilot having an outlet, a tube surrounding the same and provided with one or more air holes at substantially the same height as said outlet, a catalytic filament having a portion at about the same level as said air hole and at one side of said outlet, the said air hole being so situated that air enters therethrough in a direction transverse to the filament and creates a critical zone around said portion of the filament.

7. In a gas burner, the combination of a pilot having an outlet, a tube surrounding the same, a catalytic filament having an active portion above and at one side of said outlet, and air holes formed in said tube at diametrically opposite points and situated adjacent said active portion and in a plane passing through the axis of the tube and the active portion of the filament.

8. In a gas burner, the combination of a pilot having an outlet, a tube surrounding the same and provided with one or more air holes adjacent said outlet, and a catalytic filament within said tube adjacent said outlet and curved substantially concentric therewith.

This specification signed and witnessed this 15th day of December, 1910.

HOWARD LYON.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH H. JOHNSON, A. G. HEUsEL, Jr. 

